Florida Survival Gardening

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Today at the 326 Community Market! HOT PEPPERS!!! Rosemary! Lavender! Japanese Persimmons! Cassava!

Photo credit: Cathy Snyder

It was a great week last week. I saw my friends John and Lisa... Karen... Curtiss and Margot... and more. If I missed you, it's because I was really, really busy! The weather was wonderful and the conversations were uplifting.HOT PEPPERS! This week I'm bringing a bunch of jalepenos and cayenne pepper plants from the greenhouse... they're beautiful and ready to be planted out. Some are almost in bloom. Pick some up for your fall garden - just $2.00 per pot! Make your own salsa... or grind your own red pepper. The taste of homegrown peppers is unbelievable!Let's see what else I have today at the 326 Community Market...PeachesI've got JUST two peach trees left at $20 each!OlivesI picked up some olive trees this week - come on down and get your own Arbequina olive and plan on some tasty Mediterranean dishes. Only 2 left!!!Goji Berries

I still have some. Small goji berries are $4.00 a pot... pick up a few and discover this weirdly flavored lycopene-loaded superfruit.

Mulberries

I have small Illinois Everbearing trees for $12.00 each. Don't worry about the size... mulberries grow FAST!

Chinese Water Chestnuts

Do you have a pond? A swampy spot? A kiddie pool? Chinese water chestnuts are a delicious root crop that loves the heat and will produce abundantly. It's also perennial! I figured out how to package them up for sale (regular pots don't work) and I'll have some with me today - give 'em a try!

ChestnutsSOLD OUT!Japanese Persimmons

Simply one of the best fruit trees for this area. Sweet, luscious, non-astringent fruit... and my price of $29 per tree is really hard to beat.

Cassava

I've got a limited amount of potted cassava plants for sale again... grab 'em before they're gone!Visit the 326 Market in Ocala today and go shopping. There's a lot going on in the nursery and I'm finding more rare edibles each week.

Speaking of things you should have on your homestead, our purple snake beans are in full swing right now, providing us with meal after meal:

These are a different variety of the snake beans I normally grow. I planted them just for fun, since I like the color. They're really an attractive vegetable and I'll bet they're better for you than the run-of-the-mill green bean.

Finally, our last piece of purple produce has arrived with the ripening of this year's elderberry crop:

Elderberries taste a little strange raw but they're apparently amazing in jellies and wines. Our harvest wasn't enough for that kind of processing so I've been drying and setting aside the berries to use for treating colds and flus over this coming winter.

The elderberry plants I grow on my homestead and sell at the 326 Community Market are unimproved varieties. I'm testing some improved cultivars right now but I'm not sure how well they'll do here in Florida since their parent stock comes from way up north.

That's something to worry about later on.

Right now I'm just enjoying the royal bounty flowing in from every corner of our little homestead.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Easy Composting

My family and I visited some friends’ house the other day for lunch. Our kids played together, we jammed on the piano and guitar, had a few glasses of wine, talked theology and gardening… it was great. They’re our kind of folks.At one point, I noticed all the debris left over from lunch: watermelon rinds, half-finished plates of food, limp salad, etc., and I asked if they had a compost pile. The husband answered, “Yeah… we have one of those tumbler types but I’m ashamed to say we don’t really use it much…” We walked out to the backyard and he showed me a well-built hand-cranked plastic composter.

“It just doesn’t work all that well. I’m not sure how people get perfect compost from these things.”

You know… I’m not sure either.

For years I’ve built compost piles, making gigantic mounds of organic matter, watering and turning it occasionally, then later sifting out the good stuff for use in the garden.

Look at that poor sap.

It’s a lot of work, so I understand the desire to solve the hassle of composting through science and design.

Unfortunately, I’ve yet to meet with a compost tumbler I find worth the trouble.

You might ask “Trouble? They’re trouble? Like… how?”

I’ll tell you how.

Blurry photos just don’t capture the grandeur of this bin.

A few years ago I built a 55-gallon compost tumbler for my wife because she wanted an easier way to make compost for her square foot gardens.

See it on the left?

What a marvel of ingenuity!

A leap forward for upcycling!

It’s a high-capacity composter for cheapskates!

The problem was… it really wasn’t all that easy to turn. It was also not big enough to “cook” down properly, meaning that the kitchen scraps sat in there in a big clump without breaking down.

This is a common problem even in the nice composters you buy from nice stores. It’s not just a problem that arises in redneck 55-gallon drum composters.

Another problem that arises in compost tumblers: incomplete compost creation. That is, unless you have two of them… at some point you need to quit dumping in your food scraps for a month or two so you can let the compost break down completely. You also need to mist the contents with a hose and crank regularly.

How many of you are willing to do all that for a couple of buckets of compost?

As a final indignity, decent compost tumblers are expensive.

Yes, we should compost all of our food scraps. But the “easy” methods are a pain. (If you’re the owner of a compost tumbler manufacturer and want to prove me wrong, I’m not adverse to trying out your model. Send me one and I’ll review it; however, I’m not easy to impress. If it works amazingly, I’ll recant. Maybe.)

The real silliness in this drive to make compost is that nature makes compost all the time without tumblers, cranks, bins, sifters, pitchforks or thermometers.

Do you know how nature makes compost? I’ll give you a minute to answer.

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Ready? Oh… not yet. Okay.

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Time’s up.

Here’s how nature makes compost: she throws things on the ground.

That’s it. Throwing things on the ground. Easy, right? Just throw things on the ground.

I know, it’s revolutionary. But it works.

Obviously, if you’re trying to collect and distribute compost to individual plants, or make it and keep it in big bags, etc., just throwing stuff on the ground makes it tough to collect the finished compost.

Of course, why would you need to collect the finished compost? Nature doesn’t. She just lets organic matter rot where it falls.

Friday, July 25, 2014

18 Amazing Trees For Your Woodlot

Trees are a gift from God. They shelter, feed and warm us. Our books and hand tools are made from them. They provide us with oxygen, cool us in the summer and break the freezing winds of winter.

I recently posted on why you should plant a woodlot. Today I’m going to give you more info on 18 of my favorite trees so you can start gathering what you need to create an epic stand of woods.

Ready? Let’s go!

1. Hawthorn

Hawthorns are small trees or shrubs in the rose family. They produce edible fruit and will bring in plenty of game. They also, apparently, are magic. Though they’re not particularly useful for lumber or fuel, their edibility and small size makes them a good tree to tuck in here and there. Hawthorns are a large genus… there’s bound to be a family member in your area.

2. Black Walnut

As well as being one of the most valuable timber species in North America, black walnuts also produce an abundance of edible nuts. Not all trees can stand to grow near them, however, as black walnut roots produce a growth-dampening toxin known as jugalone. If you find walnuts in the fall, husk them, let them dry out a little, then bury them in damp soil and put them in the fridge until spring. Or just plant them in place and let winter do it for you. In the spring, they’ll start growing (provided the squirrels didn’t steal them).

2. Pecan

Pecan nuts are valuable and the timber is excellent. They’re also a native North American tree. Some types can grow all the way from Florida to Canada. Plus, pecan pie.

3. Hickory

Hickory trees: beautiful with tasty smoke.

Hickories are an excellent hardwood for tools. It’s also a wonderful cooking fuel, especially for smokehouses. Bonus: the nuts of most hickories are edible, though not all of them are worth the effort.

4. Chestnut

Chestnuts used to be one of the most common and useful trees in the United States before the horrible Chestnut Blight knocked out almost every hint of the native population. The wood is excellent for furniture… if you can find it. Fortunately, there are multiple organizations seeking to restore this majestic tree to North America. For large and tasty nut production, the Dunstan type is hard to beat. Otherwise, smaller Chinese trees are blight-resistant and will at least feed the livestock.

5. Persimmon

I can’t tell you how much I love these trees. The wood is beautiful and super-hard, plus female trees bear delicious and abundant crops of tasty fruit. American persimmon trees can be tucked in between other species, though they prefer more sun.

6. Sugar Maple

Maples produce an abundance of fast-decomposing leaves for your compost pile… and that’s the least of their talents. They also produce excellent wood and can be tapped for syrup.

7. Crabapple

Another small tree, crabapples are just wild forms of our domesticated apple trees. If you have them in your woodlot, they’ll feed the animals and provide you with useful fruit. They’ll also pollinate your other apple trees. If you want to get fancy, crabapples also make excellent root stocks for improved apple varieties. Graft away!

8. Osage Orange

This is a strange and thorny tree with disgusting bumpy green inedible fruit. It’s also a great tree for crafting bows, plus it makes a formidable hedgerow when planted closely. The wood is wicked hard and very rot-resistant.

9. Hackberry

Hackberry trees feed wildlife and produce good wood for furniture and plywood. They also grow quickly and can handle urban environments. Remember that if you decide to build your woodlot on the gutted remains of a burnt gas station.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Today at the 326 Community Market! Peaches! Olives! Hot Peppers!

Photo credit: Cathy Snyder

Let's see what I have today at the 326 Community Market...PeachesI've got a few peach trees back in stock. $20 each!OlivesI picked up some olive trees this week - come on down and get your own Arbequina olive and plan on some tasty Mediterranean dishes.Hot PeppersI started a bunch of peppers in the greenhouse. I have jalepeno and cayenne right now, with paprika and red habeneros on the way. Mmm. Goji Berries

I still have some. Small goji berries are $4.00 a pot... pick up a few and discover this weirdly flavored lycopene-loaded superfruit.

Mulberries

SOLD OUT!

Chinese Water Chestnuts

Do you have a pond? A swampy spot? A kiddie pool? Chinese water chestnuts are a delicious root crop that loves the heat and will produce abundantly. It's also perennial! I figured out how to package them up for sale (regular pots don't work) and I'll have some with me today - give 'em a try!

ChestnutsI was able to get a few more. They're $40 a pot and they're one of the best nut trees you can grow in North/Central Florida!Japanese Persimmons

Simply one of the best fruit trees for this area. Sweet, luscious, non-astringent fruit... and my price of $29 per tree is really hard to beat.I'll also have some various bananas, plus other tasty fruits.

Visit the 326 Market in Ocala today and pick up a few plants. There's a lot going on in the nursery and I'm finding more rare edibles each week.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

More on the power of encouragement

Last year I published a post on the power of encouragement. My parents nurtured and fed my nascent love of gardening, turning me into the garden teacher and writer that I am today.

Last week at the Farmer's Market, I had the gift come back to me in a wonderful way.

As I was working my plant booth at the 326 Community Market, I looked up to see two young ladies walking my way with two pots that were overflowing with happy plants.

Months previously, I had given a handful of seed bombs to the girl on the right and told her how to grow them. I had forgotten the gift until Thursday. She and her blonde niece walked up to me and said "hi."

"Hi," I replied. "Nice to see you again! What do you have?"

"These are the plants we grew from the seeds you gave us! We need you to tell us what they are!"

I looked and identified a type of hibiscus, a buckwheat, a small sunflower and some mustard greens. After telling her what they were, I asked her how she'd grown them.

"I planted them in these pots and kept them watered and they just grew!"

"Wow," I replied. "They look really happy!"

"Yes!"

"Had you ever planted anything before?" I asked.

"No! This is the first time I ever planted seeds!"

"Amazing," I answered. "You did a great job!"

She smiled shyly, then continued, "My mom always told me she had a black thumb. I was afraid that I inherited it... but these did so well that I think I can grow things!"

"You sure can," I answered. "I don't believe there's any such thing as a black thumb. It just takes practice. You can learn how to do almost anything. For instance... you could learn how to tile a bathroom if you wanted to, even though it seems complicated. Just start reading, learn from someone that knows what they're doing, discover how tile works, learn to measure... and you could do it. Plants are the same way."

She looked at me quizzically. (I don't think she had any interest in tiling bathrooms... maybe not a good illustration.)

I continued, "I also think plant know when you think you have a black thumb. They get scared and don't want to grow for you!"

The girls laughed at this.

"I've killed a lot of plants," I said. "More plants than most people have ever grown in their lives. But I keep doing it and I keep learning, and plants usually grow well for me now. Just don't be scared! This is a GREAT start you have here!"

I asked if I could get my picture taken with them and post it here... I just had to capture the moment for posterity. (Thanks for taking the photo, Cathy!)

You know, I didn't sell very many plants on Thursday - but this was better than any sales I could have made. I left feeling like a million bucks.

I may have encouraged these young gardeners, but they encouraged me much more than I can ever say. The fact that they brought their plants back to show me the progress... priceless.

Monday, July 21, 2014

I'm a little busy... will post soon

Friday, July 18, 2014

Duckweed and azolla = free fertilizer!

The larger plant is some kind of native duckweed... the tiny light-green plants are another type, and the frilly dark-green plants are azolla.

Duckweed and azolla are loaded with protein, which means... NITROGEN!

Azolla has the additional benefit of being a nitrogen-fixer, which means it makes nitrogen out of thin air. Er, water. Or something.

Anyhow, if you have a place to grow these tiny floating plants, you can use them as fertilizer in your garden. Simply scoop them out with a net and side-dress your vegetables with sloppy clumps of duckweed/azolla, or add them to your compost heap. Once they're out of the water they break down quickly, giving your food plants a kick of nutrition.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Today at the 326 Community Market: Japanese Persimmons! Water Chestnuts! Goji Berries!

Let's see what I have today at the 326 Community Market...Goji Berries

I finally got 'em again. Small goji berries are $5.00 a pot... pick up a few and discover this weirdly flavored lycopene-loaded superfruit.

Mulberries

I found two more Dwarf Everbearing Mulberries - come and get 'em.

Chinese Water Chestnuts

Now this is a GREAT edible:

Chinese water chestnuts like old bathtubs. So do mosquitoes. I added mosquito fish to the tub - problem solved!

Do you have a pond? A swampy spot? A kiddie pool? Chinese water chestnuts are a delicious root crop that loves the heat and will produce abundantly. It's also perennial! I figured out how to package them up for sale (regular pots don't work) and I'll have some with me today - give 'em a try!

Japanese Persimmons

Simply one of the best fruit trees for this area. Sweet, luscious, non-astringent fruit... and my price of $29 per tree is really hard to beat. I mean... look at this beautiful tree: